AGM 2025
The 37th Annual General Meeting of the LDWA Cumbria group took place on Sunday 12th October 2025 at the Lowther Castle Inn, Hackthorpe CA10 2HX
Cumbria LDWA Annual General Meeting
12th October 2025 at the Lowther Castle Inn, Hackthorpe
Present
Jim Crockett (Chair), Andy Armstrong (Walks Secretary), Clare Edgar, Pat Evans, Dave Evans, Paul Glynn (Secretary), Brenda Graves, Barbara Young
In Attendance
Catherine Glynn (Wessex LDWA), Gina Perryman (Lakeland LDWA)
Apologies
Tony Deall (Treasurer), Allan Ousby, Debbie Thompson
Minutes of the 2024 Annual General Meeting
These were accepted as a true record. Proposed by Pat, seconded by Clare
Matters Arising
Re possible merger with another group, after consultation since the last AGM it had been decided not to pursue this further
Catherine and Paul assisted at the Patterdale Boundary challenge which was the subject of a talk at last year's AGM.
A possible Cumbria LDWA challenge event "The Keswick Kanter" had a successful trial run in the summer with all 4 loops completed in 12 hours 40 minutes.
On hold pending further interest/support before committing any finances to it.
Chairman’s Report
Jim thanked Andy for another year's programme of walks. Jim would like to stand down as chairman at this AGM. Jim would like to see the reintroduction of weekends away again in the group having organised several of these in the past.
Secretary’s Report
Paul summarised the current membership totals which have grown a little since last year.
An email had been received from South of Scotland group inviting Cumbria members to walks in 2026 to celebrate 40 years of the group.
Paul will send out dates & details to members. (The dates are April 26th & May 30th 2026)
Local groups meetings take place several times per year, normally via zoom but a face-to-face meeting is planned for November 2025 in Leamington Spa.
The LDWA pays travel and hotel expenses for one delegate per group.
The Facebook and WhatsApp group memberships have also grown over the last year.
Both need input from members to keep them active.
A brief discussion about helping at 100s events took place. It can be rewarding and there is usually a contribution towards group expenses from the National LDWA.
Walks Secretary;s Report
Andy gave a summary of the monthly walks that have taken place since the last AGM.
No Helm Wind badges were sold this year.
Treasurer’s Report
Copies of the treasurer’s report were made available at the meeting. In the absence of the treasurer, Paul summarised the financial situation as little changed from last year.
Quartermaster’s Report
Copies of the equipment inventory were available at the meeting, and a discussion took place about which items could be disposed of, and which should be kept. Paul will liaise with Jim on a handover of equipment in the next month or so.
Charitable Donations
It was decided to donate £50 each to Great North Air Ambulance and Penrith MRT.
Election of Officers
Both Jim and Tony had expressed a wish to stand down from the posts of chair and treasurer respectively at the 2025 AGM.
Clare now replaces Jim as Chair (proposed by Brenda, seconded by Barbara).
Barbara replaces Tony as Treasurer (proposed by Paul, seconded by Clare)
Thanks were given to both the outgoing and to the incoming officers.
Paul will send in the change forms to enable website access if needed by Clare and Barbara, and will update the website.
Future of the group (including engagement)
It was agreed that bulk emails about upcoming walks should be sent to both primary and secondary members using the LDWA bulk email system.
It was further agreed that some means of identifying recently-joined members should be used in order to send a welcome email with useful information about the group.
Challenge Events
As reported earlier by the Walks Secretary, no Helm Wind Badges were sold this year.
And as reported earlier by the Secretary, a possible future event for the group has proved feasible but is on hold.
The secretary mentioned that the Three Rings of Shap exists as an Anytime Challenge according to the LDWA website.
https://ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Three+Rings+of+Shap
Date of next AGM
Agreed as Sunday 18th October 2026, venue to be decided.
The meeting closed at 17:41
Reports presented at the meeting:
Paul Glynn, Secretary
